Anterior / Posterior Program
"What does Anterior/Posterior mean?"
The typical bro-split or bodybuilder split is fine for the gym-goers who want to chase a pump and train every muscle a total of once per week. But studies show that training frequency is the highest contributing factor for muscle response. Meaning it matters less about how hard you train a muscle in a day and more how often you train that muscle throughout the week.
Anterior/Posterior refers to your body's Coronal Plane. Basically we are cutting your body in half. Not hamburger style, but hot dog style. Anterior refers to the front half of your body (chest, shoulders, abs, and Quads) and Posterior refers to the back half of the body (upper back, lats, lower back, glutes, hamstrings)
If you apply this 2 day split across 4 days per week, your muscular training frequency will double compared to a typical bro-split.
"Where did this come from?"
After spending 2-3 years assessing new cllients' weak and tight musculature I noticed a common trend: Most people are weak on the posterior chain (back half) and tighter on the anterior chain (front half)
So I asked myself, "Why not design a fullbody workout approach but divide the body in half so even if you're sore from posterior day, it shouldn't effect anterior day?"
And the beauty of any 2 day split is that no matter how many days per week you want to train, you can cycle through the 2 days indefinitely. The reward just compounds over the volume you do!
"Is this workout best for me?"
Great question! The short answer: I don't know. But if you experience stiffness in your shoulders, hips, and hamstrings; or weakness/pain in your upper back, low back and glutes; this program will help open up your shoulders and hips, and strengthen the back half of your body so that there isn't so much tug-of-war battles against your joints.
"What other benefits will I get from this?"
The program is set up to last 4 weeks. Each week is devoted to accomplish a specific response from the body, all while gaining strength and mobility for your problem areas.
Let me explain:
Week 1: Asymetric imbalance/Stability.
This week's sets and reps are a simple 3x10 for all exercises. Simple is to be taken lightly though, because every exercise is unilateral, meaning one sided exercises. This will demand more form your weaker sides as well as improve all-around stability and balance.
Week 2: Hypertrophy/Body basics.
Hypertrophy (by definition) is muscle growth. Weeks 2 and 3 will reap the most hypertrophy benefits due to their higher rep ranges. With week 4 covering strength reps through the "Funtional 7" lifts (see functional 7 blog) Week 2 will also use these lifts but to build your efficiency in these exercises so that a strength week isnt a risk for injury.
Week 3: Endurance/Body basics.
More hypertrophy through the general movement planes of the Functional 7, along side isolation exercises too. But higher reps to build a tolerance and work capacity.
Week 4: Strength/Power
(In my opinion) the fun week. The week you put everything to the test. Have the past 3 weeks of diligence paid off? Are you stronger than you were a month ago? I promise, if you challenged yourself in this program and stayed consistent on your workout days, high protein diet, and recovery, you will be stronger with better stability and efficiency.
DON'T WORRY, this program doesnt have a 1 rep max approach. the least amount of reps you'll be doing is 4 and ony for the compound lifts. This will reduce chance of injury and (hopefully) guarantee you don't ego lift and ruin your form.
"Only 4 weeks?"
Yes, but idealy you would repeat this program at least once more (for weeks 5-8) to help challenge yourself and do better than your original 4 weeks.
Are you ready?
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